Replace your Makefile with Taskfile

Introduction

From long time, I am using Makefile to run repetitive tasks. Makefile provides organization and structure to your scripts.

It has some disadvantages like it is not cross-platform (only available for Linux and Mac) and hard to maintain and understand specially for new developers.

Today, I come across a new tool i.e. Taskfile which is amazing tool. It is a cross-platform alternative to Make and Rake. It is a simple and elegant solution to run repetitive tasks. In this article, we will learn how to install and use Taskfile.

Installation

You can install Taskfile using the following command:

sh -c "$(curl --location https://taskfile.dev/install.sh)" -- -d -b ~/.local/bin

Note: On macOS and Windows, ~/.local/bin not added to $PATH by default. You may need to add them manually.

How to use Taskfile

Create a file named Taskfile.yml in your project root directory. This file will contain all the tasks you want to run. Let's take an example of a project which has frontend and backend. We will create a task to run frontend and backend.

---
version: '3'
includes:
  tools: ./.taskfiles/tools.yaml
  frontend: ./.taskfiles/frontend.yaml
  backend: ./.taskfiles/backend.yaml
tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - task -l
    silent: true

In the above file, we have created a task named default which will list all the available tasks. We have also included other task files using includes key.

Let's create a task file for frontend .taskfile/frontend.yaml.

---
version: '3'
vars:
  SRC_ROOT:
    sh: 'pwd'
tasks:
  install:
    dir: '{{.SRC_ROOT}}/frontend'
    desc: Install npm dependencies
    cmds:
      - npm install
  dev:
    dir: '{{.SRC_ROOT}}/frontend'
    desc: Start development server
    cmds:
      - npm run start

Let's create a task file for backend .taskfile/backend.yaml.

---
version: '3'
vars:
  SRC_ROOT:
    sh: 'pwd'
tasks:
  test:
    dir: '{{.SRC_ROOT}}/backend'
    desc: Build and run tests
    cmds:
      - ./gradlew clean test
  dev:
    dir: '{{.SRC_ROOT}}/backend'
    desc: Start backend development server
    cmds:
      - ./gradlew bootRun

Finally, let's create a task file for tools .taskfile/tools.yaml.

---
version: '3'
vars: {}
tasks:
  all:
    desc: Install Tools
    cmds:
      - echo "Installing necessary tools"
    deps:
      - pre-commit
      - node
      - gradle
      - java
  pre-commit:
    desc: Install Pre-commit
    cmds:
      - echo "Installing pre-commit"
      - 'python3 -m pip install --user pre-commit'
    status:
      - type pre-commit
    silent: true
  node:
    desc: Install Node
    cmds:
      - echo "Installing nodejs"
      - nvm install lts
    status:
      - type node
    silent: true
  gradle:
    desc: Install Gradle
    cmds:
      - echo "Installing gradle"
      - sdk install gradle
    status:
      - type gradle
    silent: true
  java:
    desc: Install Java
    cmds:
      - echo "Installing gradle"
      - sdk install java
    status:
      - type java
    silent: true

List all the available tasks using the following command:

$ task -l
task: Available tasks for this project:
* backend:dev:            Start backend development server
* backend:test:           Build and run tests
* frontend:dev:           Start development server
* frontend:install:       Install npm dependencies
* tools:all:              Install Tools
* tools:gradle:           Install Gradle
* tools:java:             Install Java
* tools:node:             Install Node
* tools:pre-commit:       Install Pre-commit

Now, you can run the tasks using the following command:

task <task-name>
task frontend:install
task frontend:dev

That's it. You can use Taskfile to run repetitive tasks.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to install and use Taskfile. We also learned how to create task files and run tasks.

Github Code

This article is based on working code that you can find on GitHub.